Privacy Policy

The Community Foundation of Sarasota County (referenced herein as “Foundation”, “we” or “us”) respects the privacy of visitors to our website. Please read this Privacy Policy carefully so that you understand what information we collect through our website located at http://thegivingpartner.guidestar.org (the “Site”) and what we do with that information. This Privacy Policy applies only to information collected online through the Site and does not describe the ways in which we may collect or use information obtained offline or through any means other than the Site. If you have any questions regarding this Privacy Policy, please contact us at 941-955-3000.

BY VISITING AND/OR USING THE SITE, YOU AGREE THAT YOUR VISIT AND/OR USE OF THE SITE AND ANY DISPUTE OVER OUR ONLINE PRIVACY PRACTICES IS GOVERNED BY THIS PRIVACY POLICY AND OUR TERMS OF USE.

CHILDREN’S PRIVACYChildren should always get permission from their parents before sending any information about themselves (such as their names, email addresses, and phone numbers) over the Internet, to us or to anyone else. The Site is not directed at children under 13 and we will not knowingly allow anyone under 13 to provide us any personally identifying information; if you are under 13, please do not provide any information about yourself on this Site.

THE INFORMATION THAT WE COLLECTThe information we gather falls into two categories: (1) information (for example, your name and address) that you voluntarily supply when you register to access certain areas within the Site or choose to make donations via the Site, and (2) information gathered on usage patterns and preferences as visitors navigate through our sites or use our services. In some cases, it is a vendor or affiliate of ours that collects the information on our behalf. Unless otherwise specified, our vendors and affiliates who are acting on our behalf will be subject to the same terms and conditions as those specified in this Privacy Policy.

Registration Information. Although Foundation generally does not collect personally identifiable information from visitors to the Site (e.g., information that enables us to identify you individually), we may make certain aspects of the Site, such as areas where you can submit content to the Site, subject to registration requirements. In connection therewith, you may be asked to provide certain information about yourself, such as your name, mailing address, e-mail address, username and password. We may also offer you the option to voluntarily submit your name, mailing address and/or email address in order to subscribe to Foundation publications, newsletters or other communications through which we update you on the Foundation’s activities, new features of the Site, non-profit organizations in the area and other matters of interest. If you subscribe to such publications or updates, you will have the ability to opt out of further communications in accordance with procedures that will be described in each issue of such publication or update.

Cookies. To help make the Site more responsive to the needs of our visitors, we use a standard feature of browser software, called a "cookie," to assign each visitor a unique, random number, a sort of user ID, if you will, that resides on your computer. The cookie does not actually identify the visitor; it only identifies the computer that a visitor uses to access the Site. Unless you voluntarily identify yourself (through registration, for example), we won't know who you are, even if we assign a cookie to your computer. The only personal information a cookie can contain is information you supply. A cookie cannot read unrelated data off your hard drive. We use cookies to help us tailor the Site to the needs of our visitors. In addition, we may use cookies to track the pages on the Site visited by our users so that we understand which areas visitors find most useful. You can block or remove cookies by using the settings in your browser.

Browser Level Information and IP Addresses. Our web servers automatically collect limited information about your computer configuration when you visit the Site, including the type of browser software you use, the operating system your computer is running, the resolution of your computer monitor, the website that referred you. We use this information to deliver our web pages to you upon request, to tailor the Site to the interests of our visitors, and to measure traffic within the Site. We also may collect your IP address, a numerical address that is used by computers connected to the Internet, to identify your computer so that data (such as the web pages you want to view) can be transmitted to you. We also use IP address information for systems administration and trouble shooting purposes. Your IP address does not tell us who you are.

Information Collected by Third Parties on the Site. In order to enable visitors to the Site to make donations to the Foundation and the non-profit organizations that it supports we have arranged for a vendor named Kimbia, Inc. (“Kimbia”) to host a widget through which visitors can make donations and access details about those donations (the “Donate Now Widget”). When you make a donation through the Donate Now Widget, you may be asked to provide certain contact information (such as your name, address, telephone number and e-mail address) and billing information (such as your credit card number and expiration date) in order to enable your donation to be processed and a confirmation to be provided to you. The Foundation will not have access to the complete credit card information that you submit via the Donate Now Widget (although it may retain the last four digits of your credit card number in order to process any refunds); and Kimbia will be entitled to use such information solely for the purpose of processing the transaction and permitting you to access your transaction details. Kimbia’s privacy and security policies are available via the Donate Now Widget and will provide you information about the steps that Kimbia takes to protect your information from unauthorized access, disclosure or use. We encourage you to read Kimbia’s privacy and security policies so that you understand Kimbia’s policies and how the company will use, protect and disseminate the information you submit through the Donate Now Widget.

The Site may display third-party advertisements. In certain cases, Foundation may allow third-party ad-serving companies or ad networks to display advertisements on the Site. Some of these ad networks may place a persistent cookie via the Site or a third party site through which they serve ads in order to recognize your computer each time they send you an online advertisement regardless of the site on which the ad is displayed. Thus, third party ad-serving companies or ad networks may compile information about where you are using your computer, where you saw their advertisements, and which ads you clicked on. This information allows the third party to deliver targeted advertisements that it believes will be of interest to you. Foundation does not have access to the cookies that may be placed by the third-party ad-serving companies or ad networks. We will not share information that will specifically identify you to an ad-serving company or ad network unless we receive your prior, affirmative consent.

USE OF INFORMATIONPersonal InformationIf you submit content to public areas of the Site, it will be available to the public and we may reuse and republish such information at our discretion and in accordance with our Terms of Use. Please understand that you submit such content at your own risk. If you submit your personal information to the Site through a registration procedure or to a subscription list, we may use such personal information to provide you with targeted content, information, and advertising (on our Site, in newsletters, via e-mail, etc.) or to permit you to track the history of your donations to nonprofit organizations via the Site (if we provide that feature). We may also use anonymous and aggregated data to create statistics and reports for various business purposes and to aggregate such anonymous data and share it with our advertisers or the Foundation’s service providers or business partners in order to offer you potentially desirable products and services; however, such data will not include information that enables such third parties to identify you individually without your information. The personal information compiled in our registration and subscription databases will not be shared with any marketing firms without the express consent of the registrant or subscriber. We will provide your personal information to the nonprofit you have donated to unless you choose to make your donation anonymously. Your donation is to Foundation, and Foundation will incorporate your personal information into its donor files. If we compile information regarding the history of your donations, we will not share such information with third parties and will maintain such information solely for your private reference.

We may use your personal information to identify which account or IP address user to terminate if we are required to do so by law or if we decide to do so in accordance with our Terms of Use.

Website Usage InformationThe website usage information (e.g., log files, cookies, Internet tags, web beacons, etc.) we collect from you will be used to (a) monitor the operation, technical functions and quality of the Site, (b) compile general statistics regarding use of the Site, and (c) analyze demographic information about the Site’s users. We may also use such information for research or improvements of the Site and the services we offer you. This data is also used by the Foundation to deliver customized content and advertising to you when your online behavior indicates that you are interested in a particular subject area.

DISCLOSURE OF INFORMATION.

We do not sell or otherwise share you’re the information you provide to us through registration or other personal information with third parties for marketing, sales or other commercial purposes. We share your information with third parties only in the limited circumstances described below, in which we believe that such disclosure is reasonably necessary to provide the service, legally required or permitted by you.

We may provide information to our own service providers to help us operate the Site and to provide the services to you that are offered through the Site. This type of sharing may include disclosures to third parties who host the Site, help deliver e-mail updates or otherwise provide back-end services. These providers will only be able to use such information subject to Foundation’s rights to do so (including pursuant to this Privacy Policy) and only for purposes of performing the services that Foundation contracts with them to provide on Foundation’s behalf.

We may be required to disclose personal information pursuant to lawful requests, such as subpoenas or court orders, or in compliance with applicable laws. We do not reveal information unless we have a good faith belief that an information request by law enforcement or private litigants meets applicable legal standards.

Additionally, we may share personal information when we believe it is necessary to comply with law, to protect our interests or property, to prevent fraud or other illegal activity perpetrated through the Site, or to prevent imminent harm to any person or group of people. This may include sharing information with other companies, lawyers, agents or government agencies.

If ownership of all or substantially all of the Foundation were to change, your information may be transferred to the new owner so that the Site can continue to operate. In any such transfer of information, your information would remain subject to the promises made in any pre-existing privacy policy.

Search Engines and Other Sites

Search engines and other sites not affiliated with the Foundation, such as archive.org or google.com, may crawl the Site and make available to the public publicly-available content and postings from the Site. The Site may also contain links to other websites, including without limitation, the websites of featured non-profit organizations. The Foundation is not responsible for the privacy practices of such other web sites. The Foundation encourages its visitors and users to be aware when they leave the Site and to read the privacy statement of each website they visit.

CHOICE AND ACCESS TO YOUR INFORMATION.If you register with us, you will have the opportunity to review, update, or delete the information you have provided us at any time (except, of course, any information that we do not store). If you remove your registration information completely, you may not be able to continue using certain services or areas of the Site that require registration. You agree that we may use your information to contact you for customer service, to inform you of important changes or additions to the Site or the services offered over the Site and to send you administrative notices or any communications relevant to your use of the Site.

If you have subscribed to one of our email newsletters or to other non-administrative correspondence, you will always have the opportunity to unsubscribe from future mailings (for example, by clicking on an unsubscribe link in an email newsletter or by going back to the Site).

SECURITY OF INFORMATIONThe Foundation is committed to protecting the security of your personal information transmitted to and from this website and will take reasonable security precautions to help protect your personal information from unauthorized access, use, or disclosure. However, we cannot guarantee the security of our database, nor can we guarantee that information you supply won't be intercepted while being transmitted to us over the Internet. With respect to financial information that you transmit via the Donate Now Widget, please review the privacy and data security policies of Kimbia, the vendor that will be transmitting your donation information to the entity responsible for processing and settling those transactions.

MODIFICATIONS TO THE PRIVACY POLICYThe Web is an evolving medium. If we need to change the Privacy Policy at some point in the future, we will post the changes before they take effect. Your continued use of the Site following the posting of any changes will signify your acceptance of those changes.

TERMS OF USENote also that your use of the Site is subject to our Terms of Use.

Profiles in The Giving Partner do not indicate endorsement by partner foundations.